Saturday at Frisco Ski-Snowshoe

Me on my 2nd loop of the day climbing up Crown Point.

Skate Ski: 2:00
Snowshoe: :40 min.

Today we got up at 7:30am, how nice was that to sleep in!!! It was only 5* so we decided on breakfast and coffee (for Andy) before heading out to the Frisco Nordic ski area. We arrived there about 9:45am and we were on the trails by 10:00am. the temperature was 20* and rising fast. Andy and I have our standard loop that we like to do as a warm up, we took a few breaks, took some video and pics and by 11:30am we were ready for our 2nd loop. I took a little longer break than he did and then I went and skied another :50 min. (doing Crown point and Jody's Nugget). We then transitioned into snowshoes where Andy did a 7.5k loop and I did the shorter 4k loop, walking anything that had an uphill incline to it! My legs were totally trashed from the Tele-mark skiing we did yesterday and the 2 hours of skate-skiing I did just before the snowshoe.

After skiing we had some lunch in Dillon (sushi for me, mexican for Andy) and then we had a pretty easy drive home. here are a few pics of the day.

Me on my first loop of the day.

Andy and I on the Frisco Bay Loop

Me on my snowshoe run/hike

Andy just after he finished his snowshoe...

Friday at Copper

Andy and I a couple of weeks ago at Copper Mountain.

Tele-Ski 10:00am-3:00pm 4 hours. Copper Mtn. 22*-34*


What a great day! Andy and I both had today off (a friday) so we decided to head up to the Mountains for a day of skiing at Copper Mountain. The temp was wonderful, ~30* by the afternoon and the snow was actually pretty good. We did find our way onto a double black run by mistake, it was a glade run so we had some pretty tight turns to make. We were pretty happy with ourselves once we made it out of the woods but we were ready for a "cruiser" after that one. Not knowing the run we weren't quite sure what we had gotten ourselves into, lots of exposed rocks/trees but afterwards what a confidence booster.

I am still getting my boots dialed and today they felt pretty good. I was happy with the fit. My first turn of the day though I tweaked my Left groin so my turns were not as aggressive as I would have liked them to have been. We skied lots of terrain but never made it over to Resolution Bowl but did do some runs at Union bowl....which was very nice and not too crowded. We called it a day by 3pm.

We spent the night up in Dillon, I got a great deal at a hotel, $70 at Best Western (with a gov. rate thanks to my husbands job ), we had a wonderful soak in their large hot tub and then tomorrow we plan to skateski and snowshoe at Frisco Nordic Center heading back home in the afternoon. We had a nice dinner tonight at "Pug Ryans", a very crowded brewery that I swear, the entire town of Dillon was hanging out in there!

Thursday-Swim

Swim: :50 min. 5:10am-6:00 am.
800 warm up
10 broken 150's. 75 cruise(1:15)/50fast (:45)/ 25 easy (1:00)
3 of these were pulls. 200K.
200 cooldown.


Another early start to my day. I left the house at 4:30am and arrived at the Rec. center at 4:50...a little early but the roads were clear today. I had a great swim, water was a little warm. I only had about 5 sec. rest after the 75's, 2 sec. rest after the 50 and :20-:30 after the 25. After the first 5 x 150's I did a 100K and then 3x150's pull, the last 2 were swims. I felt like my arms were going to fall off when I was pulling as I was trying to keep the same times as when I was just swimming.

After work I was hoping to get out for a run but my foot was bothering me just a little so I don't want to run 2 days in a row until I get my new orthodics. My acupuncturist told me he thought I had a heel spur but the Pedorthist said it was bursitis caused from my old orthodics. I just need to take it easy.

So, instead of running I went over to Bent Gate and had my ski boots fitted. The boots needed some foam for the heel area and while I was walking around in the store they felt fine. I did have a little heel lift but not as much as before. Andy and I are skiing tomorrow at Copper Mountain so i will see how they do.

Headed out for sushi tonight for dinner. The Wildflower Cafe does Sushi on Thursdays and Andy knows how much I love sushi so it's a given that if we are both home on a Thursday night we head to town. It was a little cold to walk today but in the spring we will be walking the 15 min. to the cafe....

Wednesday: Run-Bike

Run: :30 min. 5-5:30pm...neighborhood in Evergreen, 24* and windy.
Bike: :40 min. 6:10-6:50pm. Trainer. Movie: "Wanted"


Slept in today, was hoping to get up and go to the gym but sleep was much more important! Had a good day at work, over my lunch hour I went and got some new molds of my feet for some new orthodics. I am bummed as the ones I have were cut down to fit into my ski boots and now they are too small for my running shoes. I have been having pain in my heel for about 3 months now and the Pedorthist said I have bursitis in my heel and not a heel spur. He also said my orthodics were yester-tech so recommended that I get some new ones, hopefully this will alieviate my foot and leg pain I have after my long runs. Sucks having one leg shorter than the other!

I was able to sneak out of the office a little early and was able to get in a quick :30 min. run up in Evergreen. I was going to run in Idaho Springs but it was snowing and VERY windy...I figured Evergreen might be a little better, which it was. I got home in time to finish watching my movie "Wanted" on the bike trainer. Rode for about :4o min. with Andy and then chilled after that. I have an early morning tomorrow as I am hoping to go swim again.

Tuesday: Swim-Bike

Swim: 50 min.-- 2500 Meters. 5:10am-6am
500 W.U.
12x75 pull on the 1:20 (1st 10 with paddles)
150K
3x200 - 3:20/3:18/3:10 :20 sec. rest between.
1x200 -Stroke
150K

Bike: 1:15 Trainer; 7:45pm-9:00pm
watched a movie: "Wanted"

Today started off quite early, 4:10 to be exact. I found out that the Green Mountain Pool is open at 5:00am on Tues/Thurs. so I decided to check it out, hoping it wouldn't be too crowded. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized I had the entire pool to myself for most of my workout...Love it! Green Mtn. is a good :30 min. drive (a little more when the roads are snowpacked and icy like this morning). From here it is a quick :20 min. to work. I am hoping I can stay on this routine for a little while as I do plan on doing a few swim races and of course my triathlons this summer. Finding a pool that is open (and not crowded) that works with my work schedule has been difficult, more so in the winter time when the high school kids have their practices the same time I am getting off of work.

It was -3* this morning so I am glad I chose swimming over running outdoors! I was hoping to run this afternoon but the weather was still chilly and VERY windy...opted for the indoor trainer this evening and then a treadmill run in the morning. A very non-eventful day today.

I had my blood drawn for my MRT test this afternoon...hoping this will let me know what foods I am sensitive to, results should be back in two weeks and then I start my cleanse. Breathing is very good today, pretty bad yesterday.

The Evergreen Lake House

I hear that the mountains are getting dumped on but here in Evergreen, it's just lightly snowing with less than an inch of coverage. I wish I were up skiing but work get's in the way. I was so excited that my boss called me this morning to tell me that my first patient canceled. I work at 12:30pm. on Mondays so I have to hustle around the house to get things done, get in a workout and plan dinner...of course all of this after sleeping in until 7:30am.

I was on the bike trainer when the boss called so I decided to stay on for an extra episode of "Lost". The beauty of being able to ride indoors is that I feel so productive. I get caught up on TV shows and movies. As most of you know, Andy and I have been living with out TV for 5 years now. Granted, we do have a very nice big screen TV, however, we get absolutely NO TV reception, only static on every channel. It has been one of the best decisions we have ever made. Anyway, it is so nice to be able to watch something when we want and exactly what we want. No commercials, no Tivo, no channel surfing (which we were both guilty of and it drove me crazy).

So, Andy and I have become addicted to the TV show "Lost". We are a season behind but I love it when we can watch the entire season in a matter of 2 weeks! During the winter, when the weather is nasty, is the time we watch the most movies and shows. Blockbuster and the local library's have wonderful selections. This winter we have decided to rent some of the Classics which I have never seen before, "Lawrence of Arabia", "Ghandi", "Dr. Zhivago", "The Apartment", "West Side Story" etc.... Some of them are quite long so I may have to watch them in 2 spinning sessions!

Well, my hour and a half spin is overwith and now it's time to go to work. I was hoping to get in a swim today but I really didn't feel like heading out into the bitter cold of 12*. I will just have to find another time this week to squeeze it in, I am glad I got in a good ride though...and even made dinner, oh how I love my crockpot!

Well, I finally made it out the door for my run....5 hours later! I didn't seem to get much accomplished today, took the recycling in and then by 3:30pm I was on the trail. The sun had been peaking out most of the day, however, by the time I got on the trail the clouds rolled in and it was a total fog. I had seen the large herd of elk in the meadow just before I started the run and I was just hoping I wouldn't spook them while I was out there. It was definitely colder than the 20* my car thermometer said, probably due to the fact that the sun was well behind the clouds by now and the humidity was very high, so much so that it was freezing my face (and hair). After running for about 15 min. I finally warmed up and the rest of the run was great. I got in a good 45 min. with a few pushes on the hills.

Tomorrow I need to swim, let's hope I can get out of bed at a reasonable time to hit the pool. I have decided that I want to do a 2 mile swim in March, so that gives me a good 2 months to prepare for that. I also have the quadrathlon in less than 3 weeks so I better not be slacking on my riding and running.

If Andy were home he would motivate me to get out there, however, he will be down at work and running errands tomorrow so I will be on my own. I posted a picture of me running out in Solvang, CA.....

Wishing it was spring already

Annie, Terese and I after the half-marathon

Well, here it is, my first day of training and I can't get motivated to go outside....why is that? It hasn't quite reached 20* so I am having a difficult time getting ALL my gear on to go for that quick little run. Now, if I was up skiing I would think that 20* sounded balmy and I would be loving it.

My girlfriend Annie and I went to Phoenix last weekend to run the Rock-n-Roll half-marathon and we had such wonderful weather, running in 70* feels so good. The feeling of running in just shorts and a tank top sure beats all the clothes I have to find and put on for this winter weather...2 pairs of tights, 2 shirts and a jacket, thick gloves and a hat, I weigh an extra 5lbs with all this stuff!!

Our races went well and it motivated us both to get out there and train even harder and sign up for some more running races....however, I still can't get myself out of my warm, cozy house. Okay, when the temps hit 20* I will head out into the cold. I know I will have a great run and will feel so much better once it's over with, however, just getting my foot out the door is the biggest challenge of my day!

My Summer plans

So, this is my first post, a good way to start out my year and write down all my training stuff. It will be interesting to see how it goes and if I can keep up with it.

I have just signed up for the Boulder Peak Triathlon Series, finally making a commitment to something this summer. I was asked just yesterday what my plans were for the year and I was a little sad that I didn't have anything going on. As of today, I pretty much have most of the summer figured out. I will start off with a 10 mile trail race in Fruita on April 17th, then in May I have signed up for the Ironhorse bike race/10 mile run/1 mile swim in Durango. June takes us to a 24 hour mtn. bike race that I will do with girlfriends and a sprint triathlon in Boulder. July I will ride the Triple Bypass, the Boulder Peak Triathlon and at the end of the month a 50 mile mtn. bike race in Leadville. For August I will have the 5430 Half Ironman race in Boulder and then relax the rest of the month. Andy will be racing Leadville 100 the weekend after my half so it will be perfect timing for me. I will be his support crew and not care about getting in a workout that weekend. September there is the Golden Leaf Half marathon in Aspen or the Imogene Pass run...I will wait a while before I decide on that.

Now the question becomes, how am I going to go about training for all of this? I was asked if I would get a coach but right now the "spare funds" are a little low so I figured I would save a little and use my notes/training logs from a few years ago. I think it's been over 2 years since I have done a triathlon but I figure between my previous training experience and the voice of my husband, I will make it work. Still trying to decide what I want for my "A" race, the Leadville 50 or the Peak Series....

Wow, looking at all the races/events I guess I do have a pretty full schedule, hope it all works out okay.

I will start training tomorrow. I figured I am still recovering from my half-marathon I did last weekend...today I was able to catch up on sleep and enjoy a nice walk to town with Andy. It was just beautiful up here today, had I known it was going to be so nice I would have been out on the bike.